Weeks before a state financial review team found Detroit's fiscal condition so dire that Gov. Rick Snyder would soon appoint an emergency manager, discussions behind the scenes indicated that an orderly Chapter 9 bankruptcy for the Motor City might be the best option, according to e-mails reviewed by the Free Press.

The e-mails -- obtained by labor activist Robert Davis in an ongoing lawsuit against the Snyder administration over whether the appointment of emergency manager Kevyn Orr violated the state's open meetings laws -- show that top Snyder aides had approached Orr and his law firm, Jones Day, in January and were urging Orr to take the job.